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Burying vs. valve box?

As was mentioned a bit earlier, use a box!
Keep a couple inches of soil on top of the lid for grass to grow, and use one big enuff to get your paws into it for changing the diaphragm(s).
Now get yourself a Krik-It audio locator ('scuse the shameless plug!!) and you'll always find your valves within minutes of firing the clock.....
Bill

The Irrigation Specialist Mfg' Az.
Please check my website and you'll find what I do and the unique tools I make and market.
Real timesavers, especially the Suck-Tube and Krik-It. http://www.tismaz.com

I bought the Suck-Tube a while back. It's come in very handy on a few occasions. I'm definetly a faster repairman when it's needed. I used it on a manifold once cleaning out debris which I accidently let get in there without having to turn the main back on.

I had to use electrical tape to keep the large slip cap on at the top because the harder you pull the more sucking action you get. I crank on it at times. I didn't want to glue it incase I need to replace the seal inside.

Bill I noticed the picture on your site of the Suck-Tube isn't working for me.

I'm glad this post reappeared. The sucktube has saved me a lot of time. The video I posted is a poor example of what it can do and how much water it can pump. I used it recently to remove the water out of a pipe that wouldn't stop draining while changing an anti-syphon valve. Every repair truck should have one and no Bill Painter isn't paying me to say this.

I've never used it to empty a valve box. I have a pump for that. This just sucks the water out of the line. When you have dirt down in a fitting where there used to be a sprinkler. You can draw the water and debris out the fitting without flushing it down the line clogging up other heads. The one manifold I did use it on to get some minimal debris out of was down in a box. It sure beat turning the water on, flooding the box, pumping out the box and having debris go back down the valve.

I mean how good will it clean out soil, sand? Probably good enough for big pieces but what remains could easily clog up nozzle or get into rotor mechanism and then you have to do more work. I didn't use it though.